What modeling application do you use?
3DSMax, ZBrush, Sculptris for quick mindfarts. Used to use Blender but no more.
What pluses and minuses does it have?
Max has a few quirks but overall it's industry standard stuff.
Zbrush is great for sculpting though it's UI is the single worst experience I've ever had on a PC ever. EVER. I seriously hate it and want it to die in the most painful way possible. Imagine how much harry potter hates voldemort, then quadruple it and that is close to how much I hate blender's UI.
BUT when it isn't getting in your way and you're just sculpting merrily it's a dream.
Sculptris is lightweight with an ultra simple UI, no complex features (yet) and you can pull an entire model from just one sphere and not have any rediculously contorted polys (not possible in ZBrush)
Blender sucks, don't use it. The only pro is that it's free.
Why would you suggest it for a beginner?
This assumes that I would, and I wouldn't. There is no beginner level software, it's just pricetag. Blender and sculptris are free, max and zbrush cost multiple arms and multiple legs. The beginner needs to know they actually like and have an ability to model before committing money to it, so always go for free/trial software first.
How easy it is for a beginner to learn? Does it have a big community that helps?
Large communities are good for perfecting, but getting into it initially you want a single or a few people who are willing to give you lots of pointers and link you to tutorials they used etc. It depends on the background of the beginner as to how hard they'll find it. someone who has traditional sculpting background will get into zbrush in a matter of minutes and be producing semi-decent stuff. Someone who has no background in sculpting will likely take much, much longer.
How big effect on gaming does modeling leave right now?
Uh? No models = No games. Source is old fashioned in that it's still mainly BSP based and not static meshes.
Is modeling useful anywhere else then in games?
Never seen avatar? Every film that has CG employs dozens of modelers.
Architecture, product design all use models in their concepting stage
Will your future profession be linked with modeling? Or is it already linked with it?
I imagine so.
If you have chosen modeling as your future profession is there enough universities to learn at?
I'm doing a 'proper' degree, Physics. One thing my chemistry teacher said in regards to 'forensic science' degrees was that people actually in the field of forensics value graduates from 'Chemistry', 'Biology' and 'Physics' degrees waaaaay more than they do 'forensic science' degrees because it shows that they have the basework understanding which will enable them to learn about forensics far easier. And then on top of that if your career goes tits up and you don't do forensics, your degree is still very valuable for a vast range of other fields.
Same with game design the way I see it.
How many time on average, do you spend on one model?
Hah, average. It depends entirely on what the use of the model is and your method of making it.
This took 4 days on and off work to finish, a portfolio piece made by subdivision modeling a high poly, making a lowpoly then baking a normal map.
But
these (all three) would have taken under a day if I'd done them back to back, because they're for a different purpose. TF2 requires no normal maps so I don't need a high poly version and TF2 already has plenty of textures so I can quickly use those as a basis for mine.
If I was to make a proper character model of any current gen game quality level I'd be spending at least a week on it if not more like two.
Which was the hardest model you have made till now?
I hate trees, they're a damn pita to model.
Which was your first model? How long did it take to make?
The alligator cutout from the first swamp pack was my first model. It took about two days because I messed up the first time and started over.
Well, technically it isn't my first model, the first one I made when I was about 9 or 10. I can't remember what the software was but I made a whale from one of it's tutorials. Then there was a 7 year gap where I did no modeling at all.